Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today ‘The Three Amigos’ enjoyed an 8.7 mile walk and we were joined by Angela. Our walk today was a leg of ‘The Leicestershire Round’ – a 100 mile circular walk around Leicestershire. Today, we walked the section from Bradgate Park to Mountsorrel.

We are planning to walk the Leicestershire Round in stages over the coming months – hopefully before the winter sets in. This will involve a bit of planning and logistics.

It was a drizzly, cool morning as we assembled in Bradgate Park car park ready to begin our walk.

Bradgate Park is a deer park and was once part of the Manor of Groby. We walked beside the river Lin for a short while before heading past the ruins of the house that belonged to the Greys of Groby.

Lady Jane Grey was Queen of England for ‘nine days’ and was beheaded at the age of sixteen. She was a direct descendant of Henry V11 and when Edward V1 died in 1554 she was used by her family, against her will, to lay claim to the throne. She was accused of treason, thrown into the tower of London and ordered to be executed by Mary Tudor who then became Queen. The lands were confiscated, but eventually, the lands returned to the family when Henry Grey became 1st Earl of Stamford. The land stayed in the family until 1926 when it was bought by Charles Bennion who donated it to the people of Leicestershire for their enjoyment.

We headed uphill across wet grass towards Old John Tower.

The beer mug shaped monument was built as a folly in 1784.

We should have been able to enjoy a panoramic view from this high spot but sadly, the misty weather prevented this.

Heading downhill our route took us across a number of golf courses and we were able to follow the Leicestershire Round signs.

We soon reached the village of Woodhouse Eaves where we stopped for a break. The drizzle had stopped and the day was warming up.

Leaving Woodhouse Eaves we had to cross a field containing many cows, thankfully, they were friendly!

We passed through a field of corn which was getting fairly high- quite an experience as the field seemed to go on forever.

We crossed over the railway line for the superb heritage steam railway – The Great Central Railway https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/and headed towards Swithland reservoir (opened in 1896 to serve the city of Leicester with a capacity of 500 million gallons).

At the far side of the reservoir lay the railway line for the steam railway. If you are ever in the area, and you like heritage railways, its well worth a visit – I have been numerous times. We wondered whether we might see a train? ‘There’s a whistle!’ said Angela and Chris and we soon heard the characteristic sound of the train going clackety clack over the rails, followed shortly by the plume of steam. Wonderful!

As we walked around the edge of the reservoir the nearby quarry set off a blast and we all felt the ground shake beneath our feet. We then followed lanes and paths into Mountsorrel ( a very pleasant village) where we declared that we had finished our first leg. Clambering into my car we set off back to Bradgate Park to pick up the other cars.

At Bradgate Park myself and Angela found the coffee shop and enjoyed a coffee and butty. A lovely day out.

Happy Walking! 😊🚶‍♂️